Canada’s Civic holiday

[-Apples-]

As I changed my calendar to August, I noticed that Civic holiday is happening in Canada on August 7th.

I have a question to all Canadian users on this site. What is the Civic holiday about? How is it celebrated. Here in America, we have no holidays in August (not even the religious ones) unless if the Olympics are happening. But Canada has a civic holiday. I’m interested into learning about it.

 

[Xara]

as a canadian, i honestly don’t really know much about it either, other than the fact that it always falls on the first monday of august. so looks like we’ll be learning about it together

it started as a day of recreation that the toronto city council organized back in 1869, but i’ve seen some people say that it’s now also a day to honour john graves simcoe, the first lieutenant governor of ontario, and the founder of fort york (the birthplace of what is now modern toronto). but the general consensus seems to be that it’s just a day off work for some people lol, it’s not really celebrated beyond that.

the holiday also has different names and meanings depending on where you are in canada! alberta calls it “heritage day“, and it’s used to acknowledge and celebrate the varied cultural heritages of those who live in alberta. british columbia calls it “bc day”, which celebrates the history, culture, and heritage of the province. manitoba calls it “terry fox day”, named after the cancer research activist of the same name who was born in winnipeg, etc etc. it’s kind of neat!

 

[Dwayne Johnson]

i don't know much about it other than that i don't get a day off work for it

 

[-Apples-]

So it’s just another holiday like America’s Martin Luther King Day and President’s Day.

Also, thanks for telling me who Terry Fox is. I knew one of the provinces called it “Terry Fox Day”, but I didn’t know who he was until now.

 

[Kitsuragi]

i don't know much about it other than that i don't get a day off work for it

sorry to derail but your signature is WILD

 

[himekirako]

to my knowledge august 7th is a public holiday, but it's officially a civic holiday only in nunavut and northwest territories ┐( -“-)┌

 

[Corrie]

Honestly for me, we just treat it as a day off in the summer! Sometimes there's fireworks.